Eye set for dolls



EYE SET FOR DOLLS Filed March 2, 1932 Tifil.

INVENTOR John HWHhelm ghts:

ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. 13, 1934 PATENT OFFECE EYE SET FOR DOLLS John H. Wilhelm, Hamilton Beach, N. Y., as-

signor to Margon Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application March 2, 1932. Serial No. 596,190

14 Claims.

This invention relates to eye sets for dolls, and more particularly to a supporting bridge for mounting movable eyes in a dolls head.

A known and exceedingly popular and widely used supporting bridge for mounting movable eyes in a dolls head comprises essentially a channel member carrying an attaching member or plate frictionally slidable therein at each end thereof. The outer ends of the plates are provided with attaching prongs, and the plates are forced outwardly relative to the channel member in order to embed the prongs in the side walls of the dolls head. The channel member carries forwardly extending arms for supporting the eye set, and therefore must be kept centralized when expanding the bridge, in order to maintain the central location of the supporting arms. Supporting bridges typifying the general type here referred to are disclosed in U. S. patents to Alexander Konoff, No. 1,619,824, granted March 8, 1927, No. 1,621,072, granted March 15, 1927, and No. 1,726,184, granted August 27, 1929.

The primary and general object of the present invention resides in the provision of a new and improved type of supporting bridge which will retain the advantages leading to wide adoption of the bridge heretofore referred to, and which will at the same time overcome a number of disadvantages of the prior art form of bridge. More particularly, it is an object of my invention to design such an improved bridge which will be suitable for use in dolls heads of small size.

As has already been explained, the prior art type of bridge employs three elements, a central channel member, and two outwardly slidable plates. When the bridge is reduced to small dimension, as for use in a dolls head of small size, the amount of overlap of each attaching plate and the intermediate or channel member is reduced to a small value. The bridge consequently is difficult to handle, and lacks rigidity against a bending force applied either vertically or horizontally. One important object of my invention is to overcome these difiiculties, and

this I do by making the bridge of only two overlapping members which are frictionally slidable relative to one another in a longitudinal direction, the outer or opposite ends of said members being provided with attaching prongs. More specifically, I prefer to use a channel member and a plate frictionally slidable therein, much as in the prior art device, but only a single such plate is employed, the other plate being r replaced by providing the opposite end of the channel member with attaching prongs. With this arrangement, it is evident that a large overlap of the two members is readily obtainable, resulting in a rigid construction. At the same time, the number of parts is reduced and simpli- 50 fled, all of which advantages are valuable even when using the bridge in a large size.

The eye set itself ordinarily consists of a pair of eye shells mounted on a cross rod from the center of which there depends a weight and 5 weight wire. This cross rod is conveniently supported on the bridge by a pair of forwardly extending bifurcated arms which receive the cross rod on either side of the weight wire. When the prior art form of bridge is expanded and mounted within a dolls head, the central or channel member is frictionally displaced slightly from a truly central or symmetrical position, due to irregularities on the inside of the dolls head.

Uneven mounting of the bridge may result from warping or shrinkage of the dolls 'head,

and even from a difierence in the density of the material of the head, for one side may be full of blow holes or porosity and permit undue pene- 30. tration of the attaching plate. In a head of large size, this merely results in some displacement of the supporting arms relative to the central weight wire, but in the case of a dolls head of small size this displacement sometimes results in one 35 arm of the bridge being moved over as far as the weight wire and interfering with free oscillation of the latter. Accordingly, a further and important object of the present invention is to overcome this difficulty, which is preferably done by making the supporting means for the cross rod in the form of a saddle which is freely slidable or reciprocable on the bridge, so that it can at all times adjust itself to the desired mean position. Here again, the improvement while of particular importance in the case of a small eye set,

is valuable even in the case of a large unit because it makes unimportant the several precautions heretofore resorted to in an eifort to obtain symmetrical insertion of the bridge or mounting.

In order to keep the eye shells in light frictional engagement with the eye sockets or eye openings of the dolls head, it is desirable to use resilient means urging the eye shells away from the bridge and toward the eye sockets. Separate resilient means for this purpose may be used with my improved bridge, much like that heretofore used with the prior art type of bridge previously referred to. However, in accordance with still another feature and object of the present invention, a special form of supporting saddle may be used, which is made wholly of spring metal so that the supporting saddle is itself inherently resilient and acts not only as the sup porting means for the eye set, but also as resilient means tending constantly to urge the eye set into frictional engagement with the eye openings.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and such other objects as may hereinafter appear, my invention consists in the eye set and particularly the supporting bridge elements therefor, and their relation one to the other, as hereinafter are more particularly described in the specification and sought to be defined in the claims. The specification is accompanied by a drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a section taken in elevation through a preferred embodiment of my invention as applied. to a dolls head, this section being generally located in the plane of the line 1-1 in Fig. 3;

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of the bridge mounted in a dolls head;

Fig. 3 is a plan view showing an eye set and my improved supporting bridge therefor in assembled relation;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of a similar bridge;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a modified form of bridge using a non-resilient saddle;

Fig. 6 is a front view of the same bridge; and

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the non-resilient saddle prior to attachment of the same on the channel member of the bridge.

Referring to the drawing, the bridge of my invention comprises two overlapping elongated members 12 and 14 which are frictionally slidable relative to one another in a longitudinal direction, the outer or opposite ends of said members being provided with attaching prongs 16 and 18. More specifically, member 12 is preferably a channel member provided with bent-over flanges 20 forming top and bottom channels, while member 14 is preferably a plate frictionally slidable in channel member 12. Attaching prongs 16 are formed directly on one end of channel member 12, while attaching prongs 18 are formed at the opposite end of slidable plate 14. It will be obvious, from an inspection of the drawing, that this simplified arrangement requires only two elements in place of the three heretofore employed, and permits of substantial overlapping of the members even when the bridge is exceedingly small in size, and this in turn results in the bridge being rigid and strong against movement or bending both vertically and horizontally.

Some of the metal left between prongs 16 is bent at right angles to form an end abutment 22, and, similarly, a part of the metal left between prongs 18 is bent at right angles to form an end abutment 24. These abutments act as stops when the bridge is expanded within the dolls head, and help definitely limit the projection of the prongs into the material of the head.

In order to facilitate extension of the mounting for attachment in the head, or contraction of the mounting should it prove necessary to remove the bridge from the head, the relatively slidable members 12 and 14 are preferably provided with holes 26 and 28 for cooperation with any suitable pliers or mounting tool. In order to provide clearance for the pin or end of the tool when passing through hole 28, the face of channel member 12 is preferably slotted or cut away, as is most clearly indicated at 30 in Figs. 4 and 6. Hole 26 in channel member 12 is not obstructed by plate 14 in the arrangement shown, but it may be observed that if the bridge is made exceedingly small in size it may become desirable to extend plate 14 further to the right, when viewed as in Fig. 2, in order to maintain ample overlapping of the members, and in such case the right-hand end of plate 14 may be slotted similar to slot 30 in channel member 12 so as to provide clearance for hole 26. It will be appreciated that no additional mechanism is needed to insure symmetrical separation or extension of the parts of the bridge, for the simple and obvious reason that only two relatively slidable parts are used. This in turn simplifies the form of tool or fixture needed for mounting the bridge within the dolls head.

The eye set itself may taken any of a number of conventional forms, and that here shown is selected by way of illustration. It comprises a cross rod 30 on which a pair of eye shells 32 are loosely mounted for free reciprocation and rotation. A pair of keys 34 frictionally engage cross rod 30 with a tight fit, and insure rotation of eye shells 32 with the cross rod. A gravity weight 36 is supported by a depending weight wire 38 welded to the middle of cross rod 30. An eye set of this or any generically similar type is supported on the bridge so far described by appropriate supporting means extending forwardly from the bridge and receiving the cross rod 30. More specifically, the supporting means preferably includes a pair of forwardly extending arms receiving the cross rod 30 on either side of the weight wire 38. As heretofore constructed, these arms were rigidly secured to the bridge or channel member, and it was therefore essential to locate the supporting means centrally in the dolls head. In fact, in a small size head a slight displacement of the supporting arms toward one side or the other sometimes resulted in interference between the weight wire and the supporting arm, thus preventing proper operation of the eye set.

In accordance with a further feature of the present invention, the supporting means is made reciprocable and self-adjustable on the bridge. Thus, referring to Fig. '7, the supporting means preferably comprises a pair of arms 40 the ends of which are slotted or bifurcated at 42 to receive the cross rod. Arms 40 are supported by and preferably formed integrally with a saddle 44 initially provided with rearwardly extending flanges 46. The saddle is applied over channel member 12 in the manner shown in Fig. 5, and flanges 46 are bent around flanges 20 of the channel member. Sufficient clearance is left, however, to permit saddle 44 to reciprocate freely along channel member 12. If desired, the ends of channel member 12 may be provided with stop lugs or tabs 48 which prevent the saddle 44 from being slid completely off the end of the channel member. These stop lugs are most simply provided by leaving a short end element of flange 20 free when bending the flange around to form the top and bottom channels of channel member 12. The provision of such stop lugs is, of course, not essential, and is chiefly of utility in preventing accidental disassembly of the bridge during shipment and manipulation prior to mounting the same in a dolls head.

The reciprocable saddle and supporting means so far described is sufficient for receiving and supporting the eye set in place in the dolls head, provided that a free clearance is to be permitted without resorting to the use of resilient means for frictional engagement. If it is desired to additionally provide the bridge with means for resiliently urging-the eye shells into contact with the eye sockets in the dolls head, the non-resilient saddle 44 may have associated therewith any of a number of known forms of spring means for the purpose. That illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 is a resilient element made from a single sheet of spring metal and comprising a pair of forwardly extending arms 50 arranged to reciprocate just inside of non-resilient arms 40 and supported by four downwardly bent feet 52. The ends of arms 50 bear against the cross rod of the eye set, and constantly urge the eye set away from the bridge, the cross rod being permitted to reciprocate in the supporting slots 42 of the saddle.

Another and preferred manner in which the desired frictional engagement of eye shells and eye sockets may be obtained is illustrated in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and i of the drawing, showing a reciprocable supporting saddle which is made wholly of resilient material and itself provides the desired yieldable support for the eye set. Refer-ring tothese figures, the saddle is made from a single sheet of spring metal an intermediate portion of which is reversely bent to form a double supporting arm 60, while another intermediate portion of metal is similarly forwardly and reversely bent to form a double supporting arm 62. Supporting arms 60 and 62 are spaced apart and interconnected by the middle portion 64 of the spring metal. The ends 66 are provided with outwardly extending tongues 68 which are bent over around the channel member 12 in a manner clearly evident from an inspection of Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawing. The fit of the resulting saddle is made relatively loose so as to permit free reciprocation of the saddle along the channel member. Here again the reciprocation may, if desired, be limited by stop lugs 48.

The ends of forwardly extending arms 60 and 62 are slotted to form bearings '70, best shown in Fig. 4, which receive the cross rod 30 of the eye set in a manner evident from an inspection of Figs. 1 and 3. It is important to notice that the central portion 64 of the spring saddle, as well as the rear ends of arms 60 and 62, are spaced from the front face of channel member 12, this being best shown in Fig. 3 of the drawing. The resulting spacing permits of a rearward movement of arms 60 and 62, which in turn provides the desired resilient or yieldable support of the eye set in relation to the bridge. In passing, it may be mentioned that the ends 66 of the saddle are preferably slotted, as shown at '72, to insure ample clearance for the tool used in operating holes 26 and 28.

It is believed that the mode of constructing, assembling, and using the improved supporting bridge of my invention, and the many advantages thereof, will, for the most part, be apparent from the foregoing description. The bridge in preferred form consists of only three elements, a channel member, a plate frictionally slidable therein, and a resilient saddle for receiving and supporting the eye set. In spite of this simplicity of construction, he bridge is characterized by many advantages, such as the rigidity of the cross member or rail due to the large overlap of the two relatively slidable elements; the dispensing of necessity for symmetrical extension of the bridge; the slidability and self-adjustability of the saddle on the bridge; and the yieldable contact of the eye shells with the eye openings. While many features have been pointed out in the foregoing description, it should be understood that these may be used singly and in various groups different from the complete combination already described. For example, a yieldable spring support means or saddle may be used, without permitting a side to side reciprocation or selfadjustment of the saddle. A two-piece cross member or rail may be used for the bridge, while using support means for the eye set, wholly different from the several forms of reciprocable saddle above described. These and other modifications of my invention may readily be made, and it will accordingly be apparent that while I have shown and described my invention in preferred forms, many changes and modifications may be made in the structures disclosed, without departing from the spirit of the invention, defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A bridge for supporting a dolls eye set, said bridge comprising an elongated member having means for attaching said member within a dolls head, and a resilient saddle mounted on said member between said member and the front wall of a dolls head, said saddle being formed from spring metal appropriately bent and shaped to form forwardly exiending means for receiving and supporting the eye set, and additional rearwardly extending means freely compassing the member, the spring material of the saddle providing yieldability of the eye set toward the member, and said saddle and compassing means being slidable as a unit along said member.

2. A bridge for supporting a dolls eye set including a pair of eye shells supported on a cross rod, said bridge comprising an elongated member having means for attaching said member within a dolls head, and a resilient saddle mounted on said member, said saddle being formed from a single sheet of spring metal appropriately bent and shaped to form two forwardly extending arms for receiving and supporting the cross rod, and additional means freely compassing the member, the spring material of the saddle providing yieldability of the cross rod toward the member, and said saddle and compassing means being slidable as a unit along said member.

3. A bridge for supporting a dolls eye set including a pair of eye shells mounted on a cross rod, said bridge comprising a rigid rail-like member having spaced parallel edges and relatively extensible end portions for attaching said member with a dolls head, and a resilient saddle slidably mounted on said member, said saddle being formed from a single sheet of spring metal appropriately bent and shaped to form two forwardly extending arms each slotted to. form forked ends for receiving and supporting the cross rod, and to further form rearwardly extending tongues freely embracing the member and affording reciprocation of the saddle therealong, the rear portion of the aforesaid arms being spaced from the rail-like member so as to provide yieldability of the cross rod toward the member, so that in use the eye shells are yieldably urged toward the eye sockets in the dolls head.

4. A bridge for supporting a dolls eye set, said bridge comprising a rigid rail-like member including a channel member having spaced parallel outer edges and spaced parallel inner grooves or channels and a plate tightly frictionally slidable in said channel member, one end of said channel member being provided with attaching prongs, and the opposite end or" said slidable plate being provided with attaching prongs, and a saddle slidably mounted on said channel member and including means for receiving and supporting the eye set.

5. A bridge for supporting a dolls eye set, said bridge comprising a rigid rail-like member including a channel member having spaced parallel outer edges and spaced parallel inner grooves or channels and a plate tightly frictionally slidable in said channel member, one end of said channel member being provided with attaching prongs, and the opposite end of said slidable plate being provided with attaching prongs, means on said channel member and slidable plate for facilitating relative reciprocation of said members in either direction, and a saddle including means freely compassing said parallel edges, said saddle and means being slidable as a unit on said channel member, said saddle including a pair of forwardly extending arms for receiving and supporting the eye set.

6. A bridge for supporting a dolls eye set including a pair of eye shells supported on a cross rod, said bridge comprising a rigid rail-like member including a channel member having spaced parallel outer edges and spaced parallel inner grooves or channels and a plate tightly frictionally slidable in said channel member, one end of said channel member being provided with attaching prongs and an end abutment, and the opposite end of said slidable plate being provided with attaching prongs and an end abutment,

whereby upon relative opposite reciprocation of said channel member and slidable plate the bridge may be extended and the ends thereof embedded in the dolls head, and means on said channel member and slidable plate for facilitating relative reciprocation of said members in either direction, and a saddle slidably mounted on said channel member, said saddle including a pair of forwardly extending bifurcated supporting arms for receiving and supporting the cross rod.

7. A bridge for supporting a dolls eye set, said bridge comprising a rigid rail-like member including a channel member having spaced parallel outer edges and spaced parallel inner grooves or channels and a plate frictionally slidable in said channel member, one end of said channel member being provided with attaching prongs, and the opposite end of said slidable plate being provided with attaching prongs, and a resilient saddle mounted on said channel member, said saddle being formed from spring metal appropriately bent and shaped to form means for receiving and supporting the cross rod of an eye set, and means freely compassing the channel member, the spring metal permitting yielding of the eye set toward the bridge, and said saddle and compassing means being slidable as a unit along said member.

8. A bridge for supporting a dolls eye set, said bridge comprising a rigid rail-like member including a channel member having spaced parallel outer edges and spaced parallel inner grooves 01' channels and a plate frictionally slidable in said channel member, one end of said channel member being provided with attaching prongs and an end abutment, and the opposite end of said slidable plate being provided with attaching prongs and an end abutment, and a resilient saddle mounted on said channel member, said saddle being formed from spring metal appropriately bent and shaped to form forwardly extending arms for receiving and supporting the eye set, and rearwardly extending tongues freely compassing the channel member and permitting reciprocation of the saddle and tongues as a unit along the member, the spring metal permitting yielding of the eye set toward the bridge.

9. A bridge for supporting a dolls eye set, including a pair of eye shells supported on a cross rod, said bridge comprising a rigid rail-like member including a channel member having spaced parallel outer edges and spaced parallel inner grooves or channels and a plate frictionally slidable in said channel member, one end of said channel member being provided with attaching prongs and an end abutment, and the opposite end of said slidable plate being provided with attaching prongs and an end abutment, whereby upon relative opposite reciprocation of said channel member and slidable plate the bridge may be extended and the ends thereof embedded in a dolls head, and means on said channel mem ber and slidable plate for facilitating relative reciprocation of said members in either direction, and a resilient saddle slidably mounted on said channel member, said saddle being formed from a single sheet of spring metal appropriately bent and shaped to form two forwardly extending arms each slotted to form forked ends for recelving and supporting the cross rod, and to further form rearwardly extending tongues embracing the channel member and permitting reciprocation of the saddle along the member, the rear portion of the aforesaid arms being spaced from the channel member so as to permit yielding of the cross rod toward the member, so that in use the eye shells are yieldably urged toward the eye sockets in the dolls head.

10. A bridge for supporting a dolls eye set, said bridge comprising two overlapping elongated members tightly frictionally slidable in a longitudinal direction, the outer or opposite ends of said members being provided with attaching prongs, and a saddle slidably mounted on said members and provided with means for receiving and supporting the eye set.

11. A bridge for supporting a dolls eye set, said bridge comprising two overlapping elongated members tightly frictionally slidable in a longitudinal direction, the outer or opposite ends of said members being provided with attaching prongs, and a resilient saddle mounted on said members, said saddle being formed from spring metal appropriately bent and shaped to form forwardly extending means for receiving and supporting the eye set, and means freely compassing the members, the spring material of the saddle permitting yielding of the eye set toward the members, and said saddle and compassing means being slidable as a unit along said member.

12. A bridge for supporting a dolls eye set, said bridge comprising a rigid rail-like member including a channel member having spaced parallel outer edges and spaced parallel inner grooves or channels and a plate tightly frictionally slidable in said channel member, one end of said channel member being provided with attaching prongs, and the opposite end of said slidable plate being provided with attaching prongs, and a saddle including means freely compassing said channel member and affording reciprocation of the saddle and means along the same, said saddle including a pair of forwardly extending supporting arms for receiving and supporting the eye set, and resilient means for urging the eye set away from the channel member.

13. A bridge for supporting a dolls eye set, including a pair of eye shells mounted on a crossrod, said bridge comprising a rail-like member having spaced parallel edges and means for attaching said member within a dolls head, and a saddle comprising guide means freely compassing said parallel edges and serving as the sole means to hold the saddle on. said member, and additional forwardly extending supporting arms for receiving and supporting the cross-rod, said entire saddle body or assembly being substantially shorter than the rail-like portion of said members and being slidable bodily as a unit along said member.

14. A bridge for supporting a dolls eye set, in-

cluding a, pair of eye shells mounted on a crossrod, said bridge comprising a rail-like member having spaced parallel edges and relatively extensible end portions for attaching said member within a dolls head, and a saddle comprising guide means freely compassing said parallel edges and serving as the sole means to hold the saddle on said member, and additional forwardly extending supporting arms for receiving and supporting the cross-rod, said entire saddle body or assembly being substantially shorter than the rail-like portion of said members and being slidable bodily as a unit along said member, and resilient means for urging the eye set away from the member.

JOHN H. WILHELM. 

